Treads of high performance tires are expected to have outstanding traction and handling properties. Generally, tire treads are compounded with high filler loading and resins to achieve these desired properties.
For passenger tires, miscible resins are typically used in tread compound formulations in order to increase traction characteristics. Although these resins increase overall traction, tread compounds formulated with these miscible resins tend to suffer from reduced traction and handling at high speeds or at high internal tire temperatures generated during hard driving.
The problems observed in passenger tires at high speeds and temperatures have been solved by adding high softening point immiscible resins and resin blends to tread compounds for use in race car tires. For instance, it has been observed that using resin packages with high G′ (storage modulus) values at high temperatures along with high tangent delta (ratio of loss modulus to storage modulus) values improve tire performance at high speeds and temperatures. However, since adding immiscible resins reduces the life of the tire tread, using immiscible resins for high performance passenger tires is not a viable option because of the increased stability and lifetime requirements of passenger tires versus those of race car tires.
Patent Application No. PCT/US 2014/050475 discloses DCPD-based functionalized resins prepared via metathesis chemistry. The catalysts used in the process of metathesis, such as ruthenium-based catalysts, pose a cost barrier when the preparation of the resins is scaled up. Accordingly, there remains a need for a functionalized resin composition that is usable for the formation of high performance tire treads which is non-extractable and that can be prepared in a cost effective manner.